Visiting family near the New Forest, I squeezed in this pleasant walk in the vicinity of Brockenhurst, clearly a favourite of locals (judging by the number of cars parked nearby).
The New Forest was created by William I for hunting, with fencing forbidden in order to allow deer to run free. In the middle ages, though, the trees were reduced due to the browsing deer, and large areas were enclosed to re-establish the woodland. This is one such area, and plaques record when the area has been enclosed/re-opened over hundreds of years.

Whilst I didn’t see any deer during this walk, there were plenty of New Forest ponies on Wilverley Plain at the end of the walk.